“Indiana University athletic director Rick Greenspan is expected to announce his decision Friday regarding the fate of embattled basketball coach Kelvin Sampson.

It was unclear whether Greenspan told the basketball players who gathered at his Assembly Hall office late Thursday whether they will have a new coach for Saturday’s game at Northwestern. The players walked past reporters without commenting.”

Hutchens reported that the players emerged from Greenspan’s office at 7:43 p.m.

You have to assume at this point that Greenspan’s recommendation will be to either terminate or indefinitely suspend Sampson, otherwise a conversation with the players wouldn’t necessarily be prudent.

The NCAA released allegations yesterday saying that head basketball coach Kelvin Sampson misled (see: lied) to Indiana University and NCAA investigators regarding improper contact with recruits. In a letter sent by the NCAA to Indiana University, it is alleged that Sampson knowingly and willingly violated telephone recruiting restrictions (set in place because of violations made during his tenure at Oklahoma) and then lied about it. Not good.

That allegation is among five “major violations” that Sampson has been accused of by the NCAA. When I see the words major violation, I’m thinking vacating wins and I’m thinking postseason ban, both of which mean that Kelvin Sampson’s tenure as Indiana University head basketball coach is over.

Sampson, Indiana Athletic Director Rick Greenspan, and other university officials will appear before the Division I Committee on Infractions in June and have until May to issue a written response to the allegations.

So where does Indiana go from here? Self-imposed sanctions, unless it’s a postseason ban in 2009, aren’t likely to be enough and as an Indiana alum and an IU fan I am embarrassed. Sampson needs to go and he needs to go right this second. If Rick Greenspan isn’t sitting down at his desk right now to negotiate the terms of Sampson’s firing or resignation then he deserves to be fired too. Enough is Enough.

I think Bob Knight is an egomaniac and I am certainly the furthest thing from a Bob Knight fan that any Indiana University alumnus could be but at the very least, he ran a clean program that managed to win three national championships. Make no mistake, Indiana basketball fans (and boosters) want to win but they want to win the right way, the fair way, the clean way.

Before anyone says anything, the return of Bob Knight as Indiana head basketball coach would be a horrible, horrible idea and a gigantic leap backwards for the program. Knight couldn’t win at Texas Tech because he couldn’t recruit and I’d venture to say that Eric Gordon, Derrick Rose, Kevin Love or Michael Beasley aren’t going to come to IU and get screamed at for a year or two before heading to the NBA and it’s that quality of player that Indiana needs to compete against Michigan State, Illinois, Wisconsin and a Purdue team that, under Matt Painter, appear to be headed back to Big Ten contention. They are the league’s top team at present.

Rick Greenspan hired Coach Hep, a move that saved the IU football program from permanent obscurity and has led a capital funds campaign for brand spanking new athletic facilities at IU and if he’s interested in keeping his job, he needs to make sure that Kelvin Sampson doesn’t keep his for very much longer.

Bob Knight may have shot a couple more people. I generally think Bob Knight is a complete moron so it’s not all that surprising to hear that a man claimed Knight or his hunting partner shot at him intention after the man yelled at the pair for hunting too close to his house. Knight denies it.

Comcast sent a cease and desist letter to NFL Network for urging customers to switch from the cable service.

Can the Kindle help the newspaper industry?

Warner Brother’s viral marketing for the new Batman flick has kicked into high gear?

The fake Gordon Ramsay blog is hilariously funny.

Top Chef season 1 contestant Dave Martin has opened a new restaurant in New York.

The Colts new $11.4 million scoreboard in Lucas Oil Stadium is amazing.

New York Magazine’s Vulture blog took it upon themselves to list the Top 10 Video game movies that haven’t been made yet and even picked directors to make them. Wouldn’t you want to see a Michel Gondry Tetris flick?

The Indianapolis Star has a nice piece about IU wideout James Hardy and his relationship with Coach Hep.

I don’t like…

Indianapolis Star columnist, and IU alum, Bob Kravitz writes today he thinks IU needs to bring interim head coach Bill Lynch on permanently.  I blogged about this last week and when I saw this story on my newsreader, I didn’t realize it was a column and thought they had made, what I believe to be, the decision that could bury this program once and for all. I don’t think Kravitz is close enough to this program for his opinion to be valid, in my opinion. I doubt very seriously that he caught Lynch’s bad clock management at the end of the game at Northwestern. I think he is seeing the end product and giving all the credit to Bill Lynch and not enough credit to what’s really at the heart of the Hoosiers 6-4 record: their weak non-conference and conference schedule. 

Eric Gordon drops 33 in his debut for the Hoosiers last night.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Mark Bradly says Georgia is every bit as tough as LSU.

Fanhouse has a funny take on the Missouri-Kansas border war.

Marvel is offering an archive of 2,500 back issues.. not for free but still pretty cool.  Lost creator Damon Lindelof has a list of what you should start with.

USAToday’s Beau Dure has devised a hypothetical playoff system.

I don’t like…

ESPN is stockpiling journalists.

The Michelin Guide gave zero stars to chef Thomas Keller’s Bouchon in Las Vegas. Keller is the only American-born chef with two three-star Michelin restaurants to his credit (French Laundry and Per Se).

Serious Eats has some recipes for… wait for it.. bacon-wrapped Turkey.

The Indianapolis Star has a good article today about Big Ten teams and bowl eligibility. As of this week, only Minnesota doesn’t have a chance to become bowl eligible.

Georgia might be rocking black jerseys in their game against Auburn this weekend.

USAToday has a nice Indiana basketball preview story.

Lifehacker had a link to a handy app called BookBump. The application helps you keep track of books in your library, books you’re looking to acquire and helps student cite books in different formats for academic papers.

Quick update on my picks for the week, I went 9-for-11 last night with Ball State and Iowa State being my only two losses. Ball State lost to Miami of Ohio in the last seconds of that game in Muncie and Iowa State just didn’t show up to play at home against Kent State. Can’t win ‘em all.

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No, seriously…

We’re going to need a bigger fly swatter: 200-yard spider web found in Texas.

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The NFL has revamped its logo.

ACC must prove it is power conference again.

Virginia Tech lunch pail gets in on remembrance of shooting victims.

AJ Feeley breaks hand in preseason game. Inquirer/Daily News

Wisconsin running back P.J. Hill changes his style to prolong his career.

Buffalo Bills rookie quarterback Trent Edwards impresses in Bills’ preseason wins.

The play of Brodie Croyle in the preseason solidifies the reasons to start Damon Huard at QB for Chiefs.

Hoosiers head to the Bahamas.

Vols will need to run ball effectively to repeat ‘06 result against Cal.

Georgia Tech hasn’t won at South Bend since the ’50s.

Urban Meyer not concerned about ego of USC transfer.

Is Oregon State running back Yvenson Bernard a Heisman dark horse?

Beckham out for six weeks with knee injury.

LSU not impressive in season opener, says Baton Rouge Advocate columnist.

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Well-rounded news… 

Premiere has a list of the 20 greatest plot twists.

NBC will not renew its contract with iTunes.

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No, seriously…

Emus love Wal-Mart.

That’s news to me: VA tells woman she’s dead.

That’s assault, brotha: Schoolchildren in Colorado no longer allowed to play tag.

Woman makes it known that she’s paranoid and racist at San Fransisco airport.

British crooks try tunneling to ATM.

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Colorado QB Cody Hawkins on being “the coach’s kid.”

Hokies to honor shooting victims before Saturday’s game against ECU.

No favorites in Heisman race, says SI writer.

Gamecocks oft-arrested freshman quarterback Stephen Garcia gets redshirt.

ESPN takes over “Two-A-Days.”

Browns fans vote on Quinn’s coif, prefer it long.

Nice piece in the New York Times on Jets rookie linebacker David Harris.

A story in the Washington Post about the beasts USC has at linebacker.

Is the Big Ten overrated or did it have a bad week last year?

Hoosiers trying not to think about emotions as gameday without Hep approaches.

‘07 Gators have challenge ahead, say ‘97 Gators.

Georgia will be tested, says former Oklahoma State coach Les Miles.

Pac-10 has worst refs, coaches say.

Andy Reid should have stayed home to deal with family issues, Inquirer columnist says.

VT players prepare for rush of emotions Saturday afternoon.

Will Demetrius Jones start for Notre Dame Saturday?

Slate combs college message boards.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette picks the top college football games this year.

Ainge breaks pinkie, will start Saturday.

The AJC’s Tony Barnhart predicts the conference champions.

The Big 12 eyes a return to the top.

The Pac-10 needs to make a BCS stand.

UCLA, Cal poses biggest threat to USC’s Pac-10 supremacy.

Cal’s strategy is simple: get the ball in the hands of DeSean Jackson.

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Well-rounded news…

Trailer up for Steve Carell’s new movie “Dan in Real Life”

MTV bored enough to make reality television show about high school newspaper.

So why are Americans eating so much shrimp?

The producers of Lost sound off on Island’s new residents.

Is there a Magneto movie in the works?

Cinematical misses the pre-Earl Jason Lee.

A very exciting week in my life as college football season starts officially on Thursday night and the first season of ‘Heroes’ releases on DVD tomorrow. Also on my mental calendar is the start of the NFL season, and the release of the third season of “The Office” next week and Judd Apatow’s “Knocked Up” on DVD.

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No, seriously… 

A Tennessee man was arrested for producing counterfeit “rain”.

Americans love shrimp.

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Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel thinks little league baseball players playing in Williamsport deserve to be paid.

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach on Nebraska starting quarterback Sam Keller.

Giants not interested in free agent linebacker Jeremiah Trotter.

Chad Johnson on Michael Vick.  

USC transfer Emmanuel Moody is transferring to Florida, paper says.

The $350,000 car owned by Bears linebacker Lance Briggs was found abandoned on the highway. Now, what would make someone abandon a $350,000 car after being involved in an accident? Did I mention the car was found at about 3:15 a.m. 

Rutgers RB Ray Rice eyes Heisman in ‘07.

Was the performance of punter Sav Rocca really the highlight of last night’s Eagles preseason game? Sigh. Game notes from Les Bowen. Bowen’s game story.

Sabres/Penguins to play outdoors on Jan. 1.

Hoosier guard A.J. Ratliff declared academically ineligible for first semester.

Five burning questions for Tennessee in ‘07.

The AJC’s Tony Barnhart with some interesting posts this weekend.

• Some final questions.
• Impact freshmen.
• Five best places to tailgate.

The AJC’s Jeff Schultz thinks Georgia is BCS Bowl-bound.

Arizona State quarterback Rudy Carpenter talks about the Sun Devils in ‘07.

Astros to retire Jeff Bagwell’s number.

A huge game for Oklahoma State this weekend at Georgia.

The San Fransisco Chronicle profiles Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh.

ESPN’s Ivan Maisel’s five Big 12 predictions.

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Well-rounded news… 

The St. Pete Times has a fantastic political fact-checking website.

My thoughts are with Owen Wilson.

__________

No, seriously… 

White house reporters are really bored.

You might not want to use “freebasing” as your e-mail address if you’re buying ingredients to make ectasy. Just a thought.

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Steve Spurrier suspends starting QB for week one.

ESPN’s Ivan Maisel has a good piece on USF QB Matt Grothe. Big East predictions.

Reggie Miller axes potential comeback.

Former USC tailback Emmanuel Moody is considering a transfer to Florida.

Michael Vick’s estranged father says his son was always into dogfighting.

Drew Weatherford named starting QB at Florida State.

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Well-rounded news… 

The Cinematical on the summer’s biggest bombs.

Is Russell Crowe in ‘The Dark Knight?’

The 25 best high school movies of all-time.